Comments (2)

By Mom Unplugged, April 7, 2007 8:59 am

OK, I was really hoping for a more gentle learning curve with the flushable diapers, however the baby had a “gastric relapse” yesterday afternoon so, not to be too graphic, we had a maximum experience for our first diaper. Actually, it was not too bad.

Let me explain how it works. There is a cloth outerpant with velcro tabs (see photo). Inside the pants there is a plastic liner that secures in there with snaps. Inside that is where you put the absorbent liner. It was not hard to put on, despite a wriggly, uncooperative baby.

Due to the “situation” that we had, we had a bit of leakage into the plastic liner, but it did not make it to the cloth pants (which, incidentally, was better than the disposables where many times with “tummy upset” it has ended up on the crib sheet). Both the cloth outer pants and the plastic liner are machine washable, so no big deal.

Now, what you have all been waiting for: “The Flush Report!” As I mentioned, we were experiencing perhaps our “most challenged” situation, but I tried not to panic, followed the instructions, and it flushed. According to gDiapers, one of the primary rules, is “know thy toilet.” One of our three toilets tends to be a bit persnickety, so I will avoid that one. But otherwise, our toilets are pretty much middle of the road kind of toilets, and it flushed.

That is our preliminary report. I have not tried nighttime yet. We did a disposable last night. It is advised to consult the website for tips on night diapering, so maybe I will check on that today if I have time. We shall see how it all goes today and I will report back.

THE RESULTS:

Day 1 = success
Plungings = 0
Calls To Plumber = 0

Diaper Central = signing off

Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, April 6, 2007 8:44 am

Since I really need to improve my environmental karma score (click here to read my “True Confessions”), I thought I ought to try out the new flushable gDiapers.

So…today is the day. The baby is over her gastric upset, and I feel that the time has come to take the plunge (hopefully not the “plunger” - bad pun, I know). We will put on our first gDiaper after the baby’s morning nap. As you can see from the photo, I am fully prepared for all eventualities.

I am sure you will all be anxiously awaiting an update, and I will post daily on our progress. Right now I have to go and put my plumber on speed dial before the baby wakes up!

Comments (6)

By Mom Unplugged, March 23, 2007 8:06 am

One of the things I strive for in life is to make my actions match my intentions. This sounds like an easy task, but why is it so hard sometimes? One of the areas in my life that needs improvement is in my recycling and “zero impact” efforts.

I have a compost bin, but while I was quite diligent about it pre-baby, it has fallen by the wayside over the last year. Somehow, emptying the pail into the bin and cleaning it out was just one more task that I had no time for. Think of all the lovely compost I would have had for my spring garden if I had just kept up with it!

We don’t have much in the way of recycling opportunities here. There is a place to take cardboard, and the local humane society collects aluminum cans. Except for the shipping boxes that I hoard (see post on Stuff), I try to keep up with the miscellaneous cardboard. But sadly, I have not been doing aluminum. My excuse for this: My garage is so disorganized that I have no place for a recycling bin. I know, pretty pathetic excuse, and I hang my head in shame!

The Not Quite Crunchy Parent has been posting about shopping at socially responsible stores (The Not Quite Crunchy Parent: Shopping Green). I would be fine with that, if we had any of those here in the boonies! We do, of course, have a Super Walmart which I avoid as much as possible. I have ordered Seventh Generation toilet paper, trash bags, and paper towels online, but I am not consistent with this.

I have always felt guilty about using disposable diapers. My official public “politically correct” excuse for not using cloth is because of all the water needed for washing. In reality, since I am confessing true sins here, I just think they sound gross.

However, I see here an opportunity to finally make up for my past sins and gain back a little good karma! I have decided to try out the new flushable diapers (have you heard of gDiapers?). In theory they sound great: you flush the poopy ones, and you can either flush, or even compost, the wet ones. My gDiaper starter kit has just arrived and once I figure it out, I will begin “The Great Diaper Challenge.” I will post our progress online, and if it works, hopefully I can encourage others to give it a try and help our environment.

So, if you are curious about the flushable diapers, please keep checking back for daily updates as I try to improve my environmental karma score.